The Troubled History of Genting Skyworlds

this video is sponsored by myheritage there is barely a theme park in the world that can compete with the turmoil that has surrounded the opening of genting sky worlds what was once known as 20th century fox world malaysia was under construction for almost a decade before getting itself into legal trouble with disney almost made them cancel the theme park altogether surprisingly the park that ultimately did open would include a select number of fox properties such as ice age night at the museum and independence day so how did this seemingly insignificant theme park in the mountains of malaysia end up getting involved in one of the biggest theme park controversies of the last decade let's find out from the home of all things theme parks i'm luke for review time and this is a disastrous story of genting sky worlds in july of 2013 the 20th century fox world malaysia theme park was officially announced originally set to open a few years later in 2016. around then the executives at fox were looking into the industry and decided it was finally time to tackle the theme park industry again after their failed fox studios backlot project in sydney that wasn't even open for two years since the closure of the backlot in the early 2000s fox had watched disney and universal expand their theme park reach all over the world and they wanted a piece of that pie offering their intellectual properties up to local developers around the world and the malaysian theme park would be their first project of this ambitious desire fox entrusted the genting group to build and operate this theme park for them with fox taking a lucrative licensing fee for the inclusion of their properties genting was not new to licensed theme parks with them operating universal studios singapore under a very similar agreement the 125 million us dollar fox theme park was set to contain over 25 rides and attractions from some of their biggest franchises including ice age night at the museum alien predator and titanic it was set to be constructed atop a mountain at resort world's genting a major tourist attraction containing a casino as well as shopping and dining precincts around an hour outside of kuala lumpur the plot of land that would hold the new fox theme park was originally home to the genting outdoor theme park which would be almost completely destroyed before the construction of the new park began though no one seemed to be too upset about losing this park with one review from the theme park guy stating that it was a tasteless casino-powered amusement park full of old rusty rides that ranged from average to abysmal demolition of the old park and construction of the new would start at the end of 2013 however the next two years of construction essentially amounted to just pushing dirt around at the start of 2016 the year the park was meant to open barely anything had gone vertical with everything being blamed for the delays from weather to a slump in the value of the malaysian currency 2016 would see some good news for the project though with the original 125 million budget first being expanded to 300 million and then again to 470 million though some of that budget increase may have been since chanting's cost estimates per attraction around a tenth of fox's estimates for the same rides the park would continue its slow pace of construction missing several opening deadlines being pushed back from 2016 to 2017 and then to 2018 though 2018 would see a much larger pushback to the project than just a simple construction delay in december of 2017 disney announced their intention to acquire 21st century fox with them set to buy out their filmed entertainment cable entertainment and broadcast satellite divisions which included 20th century fox blue sky studios fx national geographic and more but before the deal even had an opportunity to close on the 26th of november 2018 genting would file a 1.75 billion lawsuit where they allege that they spent 750 million dollars to bring a theme park to life only to have fox and disney walk away from the deal with sellers remorse genting argued that the park was set to soft open in early 2019 but fox continually was setting up roadblocks for them and alleged that the reason for these blocks was because fox wanted to use its leverage in the contract to threaten termination enforce a renegotiation of the economic terms as it now viewed as a below market deal largely due to its failure to negotiate for a share of gate sales they believed these blocks were also due to disney's soon-to-be ownership of the brand and their hesitance to have a theme park with their name on it located right next to a casino one day later fox and disney would swing back at the allegations saying the lawsuit was entirely without merit and that genting was the one who had been failing to meet agreed upon deadlines for several years long before the disney acquisition plans on the 23rd of january 2019 fox would file a 46 million dollar counter suit against genting claiming that they breached the contract by failing to adhere to the agreed-upon quality standards fox stated that their contract allowed for prompt termination if genting failed to deliver on its promises and was now seeking nine million dollars in licensing fees 37 million in guaranteed royalty payments and 200 000 in travel reimbursements the history of this project led me down a rabbit hole of difficult to find information but you know what history isn't difficult to find your own families thanks to this week's sponsor myheritage myheritage is the top family history service putting over 18 billion records right at your fingertips whilst i unfortunately wasn't able to link myself and michael eisner and find out he was secretly my long-lost great uncle i was able to use myheritage's incredible family tree builder to find out some information about my own family i never knew before including exactly how long my family has lived here in australia my heritage isn't just about building and filling out your family tree with people and information you never knew though they also have an amazing photo editor that doesn't just repair old photos but also animates them bringing them to life for all this and more sign up for a 14-day free trial right now and enjoy all the amazing features my heritage has to offer and if you do decide to continue your subscription you'll get a 50 discount by using my link down below that's right you too can find out if you have a familial connection to the great michael eisner by checking out my heritage for free at the link below and now back to that lawsuit around six months after the counter lawsuit the two companies would reach an agreement with all parties involved agreeing to dismiss all claims and counter claims between the parties and enter into a new contract that would grant genting a license to some fox intellectual properties though that selection was smaller than previously agreed upon meaning that some fully built attractions would now have to be re-themed the new agreement would also state that the park must change its name and wasn't allowed to use the fox brand at all in its new one the park would get back on track with its retheming and finishing touches announcing a quarter three opening in 2020. which it originally looked like it might keep until a certain global pandemic got in the way in may of 2020 the park's new name was officially announced as genting sky worlds and after a few months of testing and media events the park would officially soft open on the 8th of february 2022 but what did ultimately open with the park and how much needed to be changed from the initial plans let's find out and hey if you enjoy what we do here at review time a subscription to the channel would be greatly appreciated the park officially opened with nine themed areas four of which are themed to specific fox properties entering the park's undercover main street type area of studio plaza you are surrounded by the expected gift shops and food and beverage options exiting this entrance plaza you were greeted by the towering eagle mountain a california desert themed area home to one of the park's most unique and largest attractions mad ramp peak full throttle racing this now generically themed area and attraction originally planned to be based around the sons of anarchy tv show which to me seems like a rather bizarre and adult franchise to be at the entrance to your family friendly theme park full throttle racing is one of the world's most advanced roller coasters built by dynamic attractions and combines the fun of a coaster with a thrill of a road race but as of now is unfortunately not yet open during the park's soft opening period taking a ride outside eagle mountain you enter into the section of the park that keeps the most fox properties intact a trio of blue sky animation lands that now makes sense as disney killed off that brand last year the first of these three is rio based on the 2011 film this brazilian-themed land is home to three unique attractions including carnival chaos a well-themed teacups ride the blue sky carousel where you can ride atop some iconic characters and some gliders a suspended family roller coaster that gives you some great views over the entire park this area also has a large show building that was originally set to be home to a suspended dark ride called wings over rio that would have taken you through the story of the film but unfortunately this ride was cut and though it's fully constructed the empty show building has been left for future expansion continuing around you are shrunk down to the size of a bug as you enter the tiny land of epic based on the 2013 film this land is home to two attractions including a basic dumbo style spinner ride called the epic hummingbird flyers as well as a boat-based dark ride called epic voyage to moon haven where a combination of animatronics and special effects take you on a tour of that town next is one of the largest lands in the park based on one of the most iconic franchises they were still allowed to use ice age inside this lane you can fight sid's rock and slide a classic rock and tug and the acorn adventure family mine train roller coaster which traverses an impressive mountain range and was originally called scrats nutty adventure before fox made them change their name the flagship ride in the area ice age expedition thin ice a trackless dark ride is unfortunately not yet open but looks quite impressive from the concept art that is available to view next to ice age is the land that has changed the most since the original concept andromeda base was set to be themed around the alien film franchise but has since been changed to a generic sci-fi theme inside the land the sns drop tower terraform tower challenge was originally going to be named alien terraformer and themed to the weyland-yutani corporation from the film the biggest loss in this area is the dynamic attractions sfx coaster it was meant to be themed to the alien vs predator film though with fox no longer allowing them to use either of these franchises this attraction is nowhere near being ready to open and is officially listed as a phase two expansion another unfortunately not yet ready to open attraction is invasion of the planet of the apes the only attraction in the liberty lane area of the park this attraction looks to be another trackless dark ride of which very little is known but the park is advertising it as a 3d dark ride featuring the iconic primates battling for survival so hopefully this is a planet of the apes themed attraction along the lines of spider-man or transformers from the universal parks the park's smallest land is robot's rivet town based on the criminally underrated 2005 film the two attractions in this land were built right on top of each other to save space with the rivet town roller a chance rides uni coaster being underneath another dumbo style spinner big world zeppelins the largest area at genting sky world is central park a generic street themed area home to several film-based rides first is two rides themed to independence day the smaller esd global defender as well as independence day defiance a flying theater where you're thrust to the forefront of a thrilling space adventure also in the land is night at the museum midnight mayhem a shooter dark ride that is an interesting addition as night at the museum is probably the most active of all the franchises that ultimately made it into the park with a sequel set to debut sometime this year as you can tell a lot of the bigger franchise rides are still not open with it being unclear if they're still not fully approved or fully changed from the original fox plans but to me it's still a huge shock that this park opened with any fox properties at all reviews of the park since its opening appear to be mixed with people generally enjoying the attractions that are opened but being disappointed by the sheer number of major rides that are still closed i'm excited to visit this park sometime in the future but i'll be waiting until all the big ticket attractions are opened before i plan a trip to malaysia but what do you think about genting sky world was it worth the almost 10 year wait let us know in the comments section down below from the home of all things theme parks i'm luke for review time thanks for watching we hope you enjoyed this week's episode of review time if so be sure to like and subscribe and also check out our podcast review times theme park cast available on your podcasting platform of choice [Music]

Channel: ReviewTyme

Views: 60,673

Keywords: reviewtyme, review, tyme, time, reviewtime, genting skyworld, genting skyworlds, fox studios, fox theme park, fox theme park malaysia, genting malaysia, malaysia theme park, disney theme park, disney sued, disney fox acquisition, 20th century fox, genting highlands, theme park

Id: mboifAYPDSA

Length: 16min 27sec (987 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 17 2022